Project C.U.R.E. Fete

L-R: Will and Denver City Councilwoman Marcia Johnson; host Rutt Bridges; and Project C.U.R.E.’s chief executive, Doug Jackson. Photo by Joanne Davidson, The Denver Post
When Project C.U.R.E.’s chief executive officer, Doug Jackson, was making the rounds in Washington, D.C., recently with the agency’s director of government grants, Joe Miklosi, they ended their conversations with: “Next time you’re in Denver, be sure to come see us.” To a person, the foreign ambassadors on whom they were calling replied: “OK, we’ll be there for the Democratic National Convention.”
“All of a sudden it occurred to us,” Jackson said Wednesday night. “We should have a party when they’re here.” Which is why 30 men and women from such far-flung nations as the Congo, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea and the Ivory Coast were at Rutt and Annie Bridges’ Cherry Hills Village home for a cocktail reception that enabled them to meet some of the generous Coloradans who give money, medical supplies — or both — to Project C.U.R.E.’s mission of improving health care in impoverished nations.
Speaking for his colleagues, Anthony Johnson, Jamaica’s ambassador to the United States, said how “Pleased and overwhelmed we are that so many people as busy as yourselves have found the time to relieve the pain and distress of people you may never meet.”
Jackson’s father, Jim, started Project C.U.R.E. after visiting a village in rural Brazil where long lines formed at the local clinic that was way understaffed and had virtually no modern medical equipment.
When Jackson returned home to Evergreen, he began contacting everyone he knew who could donate supplies, or the money to purchase them, for that clinic. Since then, Project C.U.R.E. has expanded worldwide, sending container ship after container ship filled with medical resources to areas where they are needed most.
A careful vetting precedes every shipment because, as Doug Jackson said, “We want to send what is needed where it’s needed.”
Guests at the reception: Denver City Councilwoman Marcia Johnson; lobbyist Maria Garcia Berry; Leanna Clark, owner of Schenkein public relations; philanthropist Alex Cranberg and World Trade Center Denver chief Jim Reis.
Also, Patricia Barela Rivera; Michael Ditchfield; Jack Grynberg; Nyeska Mut; Molly Ross; and Mauricio Cardenas, who is in charge of new markets/Mexico for Coors.Denver Post Society Editor Joanne Davidson can be reached at 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com.